How to Become a Florida Construction Continuing Education Provider

The State of Florida requires all certified and registered contractors licensed by the Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB) to complete 14 hours of continuing education biannually to renew their construction trade license. Those licensed contractors who fail to complete their continuing education requirements by the license expiration date may face non-renewal or disciplinary action. This requirement has been in effect since December of 1993 for Florida construction contractors.

First you will need to write or compose 14 hours of continuing education courses in total. One hour is defined as 50 minutes of classroom-course work excluding breaks or recesses.

The following are the core or required construction continuing education courses and are one hour in length: workplace safety, business practices, workers’ compensation, laws and rules, an advanced module approved by the Florida Building Commission, and wind mitigation (This requirement is only for the General, Building, Residential, Specialty, Roofing, Glass or Glazing construction contractors). The remaining 8 (or 9) hours can be of any general topic that would be of interest to a licensed construction professional. Any course topic that is a sales presentation or promotion will be denied approval.

Next you will need to register with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) on form DBPR CILB 4354-1. This form requires the usual information about the business name, address, telephone number, type of business organization, etc.

The registration form wants you to detail for each individual construction continuing education course the following information: the course syllabus, course description, course topic, course timeline, course objective, and the evaluation method. Next the DBPR and CILB require the name of each instructor and their qualifications. Typically this is five or more years of trade experience detailed on a resume for each instructor submitted with the registration application. An exception is made for instructors with less than five years of experience; they must have a 4 year University degree or graduate degree in their field of study and be an active licensed contractor.

The fees are $250 for the continuing education (CE) course provider application and $25 for each hour of CE course instruction.

There is a section inquiring about any individual’s criminal background, any court judgments regarding dishonest dealing or fraud, and if you have ever been denied a State license or if you have had any State license revoked or suspended.

Upon receiving your approved course-provider number and course identity number(s) you can begin to offer your continuing education courses to construction contractors. Any promotion materials must list your continuing education course provider number and each assigned number identifying the individual CE course.

After a student completes a course you will be required to keep the following data:

The time, date and place each course is completed
The name & address of each instructor and their qualifications
Name, address and registration/certificate number of each course participant
Sign in/sign out sheet used at the site listing name, license number and signature
Internet courses require the registration information, access logs, and completion date in lieu of sign in sheets
Internet courses need proof of student’s identification verification data, password, and mother’s maiden name
Course syllabus for each course

After a contractor completes a CE course you will be required to issue a certificate of completion. This must have their name, their contractor certification or registration number, the course provider name, the course name, the date course offered/completed, the total continuing education hours and if the course included workers’ compensation, workplace safety, business practices or wind mitigation. All continuing education course attendance records are required to be kept for 4 years.

As a continuing education course provider you must electronically provide to the DBPR the list of attendees within 30 calendar days of the completion of the CE course or prior to the licensee’s renewal date, whichever occurs sooner.